Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling et al. Any characters or locations you recognise are the intellectual property of these individuals and corporations. I make no money from the writing of this story.

This story is for Round 5 of the Quidditch League Fan Fiction Competition. My prompt for this round was simply, 'Write a story about Ron Weasley.' I thought that it would be interesting to see the beginning of the chapter 'The Journey From Platform Nine and Three Quarters' from Ron's point of view rather than Harry's.

Some of the dialogue is quoted directly from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone but I have tried to keep it as minimal as possible. I hope you enjoy it.

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When Ron Met Harry

'—packed with Muggles, of course—'

Ron Weasley nodded; he had only ever been in a crowd of Muggles this large twice before. Well that he remembered anyway. It was always a tradition in the Weasley family that on your first trip to Hogwarts, you entered platform nine and three quarters via the Muggle entrance. He was too little to remember when Bill and Charlie started, but he did remember the twins two years ago, and Percy two years before that. He stuck close to Percy at the moment, not wanting to become lost in this giant crowd.

'Now, what's the platform number?' his mother asked.

His little sister piped up helpfully, 'Nine and three quarters!' Ginny always wanted to help their Mum and she in turn would always ask little questions like this to humour the young girl. Ron good-naturedly rolled his eyes at their little game. 'Mum, can't I go…' Ginny whined.

'You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first.'

Ron watched as his older brother strode purposefully at the barrier and disappeared. 'Wicked!' he thought. Today would be the first time he would be doing this by himself. Previously he always had to hold his mother's hand as they passed through the platform wall but now that he had his own wand… Well, sort of his own wand… It used to be his brother Charlie's… Anyway, it was his now and it would get him through the barrier all on his own, just as if he were a true wizard!

He watched as his twin brothers, first Fred, then George, ran through the barrier as well. 'Now it's my turn!'

'Excuse me,' a young boy spoke to Ron's mother. Ron felt a small spark at the sight of the other boy. His biggest hope for today was that he would meet a new friend. They were fairly isolated down in Devon and there were no boys his age to make friends with—not even Muggles! This boy looked to be a good prospect.

'Hullo, dear. First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too,' he heard his Mum say to the black-haired boy. His hair was sticking out every which-way as though he had just gotten out of bed. He was pretty short as well. Ron could see he was wearing old looking clothes and broken glasses. Maybe he was poor, too. Ron could certainly use a kindred spirit in what was sure to be a class full of wealthy and stuck-up kids.

'Yes,' the boy answered. 'The thing is – the thing is, I don't know how to—' he stumbled.

'How to get onto the platform?' his mother said kindly. Ron listened as she explained the process to the boy. 'He must be a Muggleborn. Dad would be thrilled if I made friends with a Muggleborn!' Ron thought. He smiled encouragingly at the boy when his mother prompted the brunet to go through the barrier before Ron. He watched as the boy did exactly as he had been told.

'All right, Ron. Do you remember what you have to do?' his mother asked him.

Ron rolled his eyes again. 'Yes, Mum,' he dutifully replied.

'Oh, my baby boy, all grown up and on his way to Hogwarts,' she sniffled.

'Mum!' Ron said with some alarm as his mother almost smothered him in a bone-crushing hug. 'Don't cry!' He could only imagine what the Muggleborn boy would think if he showed up on the platform with a crying mother in tow. His parents had not even stuck around to see him off. 'Obviously they thought he was grown up enough to handle things on his own,' Ron thought with a twinge of envy. 'But then, he didn't know how to get onto the platform, and he looked a little bit lost. Plus he's only eleven like me, I guess I wouldn't want to be left here completely on my own… as long as she doesn't keep crying I guess having Mum here isn't such a bad thing.' He put his arms around his Mum and reassuringly patted her on the back. He traded a scathing look with his little smug-looking sister and mouthed, 'This will be you next year,' wiping the smirk right off her face.

His mother let him go and, with no further ado, he pushed his cart toward the barrier, marching firmly as Percy had done and travelling safely through onto platform nine and three quarters. He kept moving forward so there was enough room for his Mum and Ginny to come through after him. He chanced a small glance behind him and saw they were quickly catching up. They made their way past the huge crowd toward the last carriage of the train.

'Fred? George? Are you there?' their mother called through the open door of the carriage. They answered and a second later his twin brothers hopped down onto the platform. Ron was too busy watching them to notice his mother's next action. 'Ron, you've got something on your nose.'

To Ron's infinite horror she licked the handkerchief in her hand and advanced on him, ready to wipe his nose like a toddler! It was one thing to accept a hug from her out in the Muggle part of the station where no one knew them, but here—where all his potential friends were watching—was a whole other thing!

'Mum – geroff!' He wiggled free of her ministrations.

'Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nose?' George teased him.

'Shut up,' Ron said petulantly. 'I'm going to have no friends, ever!' He could see a blond boy further down the platform laughing at him.

He listened with a small hint of glee as the twins transferred their teasing to Percy. Ron was ecstatic any time the twins bothered someone else instead of him and Percy always got his feathers ruffled so easily. Ron dreamed of the day when he too would be witty enough to tease his older brother. He was knocked from his wonderful daydream when he heard the words 'ickle Ronniekins'. As an automatic reflex he once again said, 'Shut up.'

'Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?'

Ron perked his ears up. It was not often that the twins were impressed by someone. It must be someone cool.

'You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?' The Muggleborn boy? Ron felt a stab of sadness. The twins had gotten to him first.

'Who?'

'Harry Potter!'

Ron's eyes widened. 'Harry Potter?' was all he could think. Disappointment laced through him. No way would Harry Potter want to be his friend. He would want friends that had new wands, and new robes and books, not some poor, pathetic person like himself that did not even have money to buy sweets on the train ride. He vaguely heard his sister plead with their mother about something, probably wanting to go to Hogwarts again like she had been for the last week. Ron managed to think himself into a right funk by the time a whistle sounded loudly.

'Hurry up!' their mother said, and the three boys scrambled to jump onto the train, lugging Ron's trunk on behind them. They leant out of the window to receive final goodbye kisses from their mother and to reassure their sister, who had started crying now that they were leaving. They waved at Ginny, who ran alongside the train for the length of the platform.

Ron stood for several minutes, gazing out the window at the passing London skyline. He had planned to go and look for the Muggleborn boy, but now that he knew he was Harry Potter, he felt a bit intimidated. He looked hopefully at his twin brothers but they were already engaged in conversation with two girls about Quidditch. He listened avidly about his favourite subject but when George gave him a pointed look to go away, he dejectedly turned around and walked down the corridor.

He looked in all the compartments as he passed them. Every single one of them was full. It looked like a lot of them were first years like him. He could see a lot of hand shaking and introductions. There was one full of girls—he would not go in there even if there was a free seat! Another contained the blond boy who had been laughing at him earlier, so he did not want to venture in there either.

He finally reached a compartment where he could see empty seats. Ron peeked through the window to see who was in there and immediately pulled back. It was him! Harry Potter! His breathing started to become slightly erratic. Did he dare to go in there? What would he say? What would Harry Potter say? Ron looked through the window again and noticed that the other boy was just staring out the window at the scenery. All of a sudden, Ron realised Harry Potter was just another eleven year old boy. Surely he liked Quidditch and Chocolate Frogs and thought that Dumbledore was the greatest wizard alive! And Ron had already decided he wanted to make friends with him even before he knew he was Harry Potter.

With a nod of determination—and a deep breath for fortification—he slid open the compartment door and entered.

'Anyone sitting there?' he asked, pointing at the bench seat opposite the black-haired boy wizard. 'Everywhere else is full.'

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And that was Ron's point of view. I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review if you would like to.